


we'll never want for our dinner

by 17826



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angus and his two dads, Canon Compliant, Gen, Implied past Taagnus, Post-Canon, spoilers for the finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 15:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11877585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/17826/pseuds/17826
Summary: There were strict instructions : go together, go alone, and for Pan's sake Magnus, don't let Taako steal the show.





	we'll never want for our dinner

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Swimming by Pearl and the Beard , who I totally recommend and think everyone should check out

Magnus knocked on the door and shifted uncomfortably as he waited. The garden stretched far enough and the walls were high enough that he couldn’t see the neighbours, but he still felt out of place, like he was being watched and judged not rich enough to even stand on this soil. There wasn’t even a porch for him to hide on, and no matter how many times he’d been here, he’d never gotten used to the white-walled modernist mansion Taako called a home.

 

“-and don’t forget the vol-au-vents, they have to be in the oven at precisely 6:30, and if you burn that cake, I swear to the Raven Queen-”

 

“I know, Taako, don’t worry, you know Lup won’t even let me in the kitchen once she gets here.” With the door opening, the soundproofing was voided and Magnus was greeted with Taako’s back as he yelled instructions into the house. Over his shoulder, Kravitz smiled at Magnus as he tried to placate as best he could. “Give my best to Angus, boys, wish I could tag along.”

 

“Yeah, well, he didn’t want it to be weird.” Taako finished zipping up his second boot, checked himself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, and kissed Kravitz before he was grabbed his bag and joined Magnus, slamming the door. “C’mon, Mankus, we’re gonna be late, boy detective will never forgive us.”

 

No we’re not, Magnus thought. “You look amazing, Taako,” he said.

 

Taako preened as he strode down the path, doing a little twirl for effect. “Right? New shorts, and they have pockets too,” he smirked, plunging his hands into the deep pockets to demonstrate, only to grimace and pull his hands back second later. He frowned as he wiped sand off his hands. “I’ve only worn them to Merle’s goddamn once.”

 

Magnus laughed, familiar with the problem, and something warm settled into Taako’s face, turning his mouth from sneers and smirks into something softer, less expressive. He linked his arm through Magnus’s own and they fell into step, Taako’s heels lending him the extra reach he needed to match Magnus’s strides, and they walked in silence for a while.

  
  


“Hey, Magnus, so, y’know you got married?” Taako broke the quiet in the most unexpected of ways, as paradoxically should be expected, but after so long, Magnus just kind of went with it.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“D’you have any pictures? It’s just Davenport found the fantasy polaroids from that one planet and it was way trippy to see everyone, but it got me thinking that there’s a lot of your life here that I haven’t seen.”

 

“Err… wasn’t that one of the years we, um… y’know, one of the years we were…?” Magnus let his voice trail off, ignoring the first half of the question because this was the first time they were maybe talking about those memories that had come back to him which he’d tried not to think about; he had enough double vision when he looked at Taako without that on top.

 

“Yep.” Taako popped the p sound.

 

“Ah.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“And did Kravitz…?”

 

“Haven’t showed him yet, they’re still at Davenport’s place and he won’t be back until next month.”

 

“Are you gonna show him?”

 

Taako was silent for almost a minute before answering. “Yeah, why not? Guess if he also likes the way I looked back then more, I’ll just adjust my glamour spell.”

 

“Hey, no, that’s not what I-”

 

“‘Cause I liked the way I looked back then more, y’know? Actually identical to Lup ‘n’ all. Probably keep the blonde though, brings out my golden undertones.”

 

They all looked different to who they had been during what Lucretia was calling the stolen century, all aged for the first time in a long time, but there was no debate as to who had changed the most. Sometimes, when Taako was smiling particularly wide, Magnus could see the elf that had lived aboard the starblaster, long dark hair, chubby and soft, more gorgeous than anyone except maybe his sister. Who he was now, stick thin and scarred, covered in stretch marks from a weight loss that would have killed any human, hair bleached to within an inch of its life, and ears dripping with jewelry to try and disguise that, was, though still beautiful, a different kind of thing altogether. This was a man who had lived with fear for too long, and his new happier lifestyle hadn’t been going long enough to have softened all his sharp edges yet. There was something though, in the graceful walk and the eyes which were always on the edge of laughter. There was definitely something.

 

“Kravitz loves you as you, Taako. Who you are now… You’re still you. You’re different, but you’re always you. Take it from someone who’s both known you forever and met you for the first time.” He looked down at his feet and realised that they had stopped walking. “Pain doesn’t destroy you, Taako. I’ll show you the painting of my wedding, I know. Pain doesn’t destroy you.”

 

When he looked up, Taako was studying him, face impassive. “Guess not, huh.”

  


They walked the rest of the way in silence, but their arms still linked, and Magnus felt a fog in his head, a kind of detachment from the situation, half calm and half exhausting. They were in the hall before he really noticed.

 

“C’mon, third row. I wanna see, but we can’t let the little nerd know we care about him,” Taako said breezily, tugging on his arm. They were still early despite their stop-and-start walking, so there were only a couple other people already seated; Magnus tried to ignore the way they stared, and envied Taako’s practised comfort with attention. After ten minutes though, the hall was buzzing with noise, every seat filled and even more people standing around the edges of the room. Taako and Magnus played chopsticks between their chairs to pass the time, and if his ears hadn’t been constantly alert towards the stage, Taako would have looked as relaxed as anything. Magnus was 3-2 up when they got stuck in a loop, and grinned when Lucas walked out on stage to begin the ceremony. He also grinned at the bad jokes Lucas tried to slip into his opening speech, and grinned as the first student stepped out onto stage to collect her diploma. It wasn’t a huge year, these being the students graduating early from the first intake of the university, but even so, it was quite a while before they got to Angus. As soon as his name was announced, Magnus shot to his feet without thinking.

 

“That’s my boy!” He heard his own voice overflow with excitement, carried by the applause underneath it, and next to him Taako shot a firework from his wand, which caused a couple screams from the audience when it exploded a little too close for comfort. On stage, Lucas glared at them, and they sat back down quickly, but Angus gave them a big thumbs up, grinning in a way that Magnus had hardly ever seen before.

 

The rest of the students collected their diplomas without any more fire hazards, and Taako complained under his breath about parents not invested in their children’s education. Up on stage, Lucas raised his voice again.

 

“And now a speech from our valedictorian, Angus McDonald!”

 

Taako edged forward slightly on his seat as Angus took to the podium and began to speak, and on stage, Lucas looked tense; Magnus smirked to himself, not even worried. He’d heard Angus perform this speech at least ten times by now, practising in his room, over dinner, sitting on the counter of Magnus’s workshop, both nervous and confident as always. He knew Lucretia had even been consulted, and that it was the only piece of writing she’d ever returned without notes. He didn’t really understand most of the words, but as it drew into what Magnus knew was the closing passage, Taako’s hand found his and gripped tight. He didn’t even let go to clap.

  


“How was my speech?” Angus asked as he half ran to them in the entrance hall afterwards, forestalling even a hello, robes flying around him.

 

“It was amazing buddy, it was so good!” Magnus grinned, hoisting Angus up onto his shoulders even though he was maybe too big for that now.

 

“As speeches not made by yours truly go, it was pretty okay,” Taako drawled, evidently not capable of his usual aloofness, as he stole the mortarboard and tried it on. “I woulda put in a slideshow though. Hey, listen, congrats on graduating my man, give me five.”

 

Angus grinned and reached out to tap Taako’s palm with his own but it was, predictably, ducked out of the way.

 

“Too slow, still a dweeb, guess that’s incurable, huh?”

 

“It sure is, Taako! Wow, boy, that is such a good goof! Never get tired of that one! Remember the first time you did that to me? Me neither, there’s been too many to-”

 

“Yeah, I get it, okay?” Taako rolled his eyes, and Magnus stifled a laugh and held his hand up. Again, Angus reached out to high five it. Magnus shifted at the last second.

 

“Too sl- ow!” Magnus found his hand smarting as Angus’s mage hand dissolved into the air.

 

“Who’s slow now?”

 

Taako burst out laughing and clutched his side. “We have got to work on ur lines, Agnes, that was… atrocious.”

 

“It was a little bit,” Angus agreed, and Magnus helped him climb off his shoulders so they could leave. Once they were outside, Magnus took a deep breath of the warm air.

 

“So what are you doing now, Ango?”

 

“I dunno, I should probably start getting ready for my classes in the fall, Lucas says I’ll be leading a couple seminars a week and also helping out with-”

  
“Chill, slow down,” Magnus grinned, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “I meant, what are you doing right now?”

 

“Oh, right. Going to the surprise party you guys planned, I guess.”

 

There was a small silence.

 

“Well, fuck,” Magnus said.

 

“Lup told you, didn’t she.” Taako looked thunderous.

 

“No, I-”

 

“Barold?”

 

“No, Taako-”

 

“Krav?”

 

“Taako, I’m the world’s greatest boy detective, and you guys are pretty fucking awful at keeping secrets.” Angus spoke louder than Taako, who kept on listing off possible betrayers.

 

Magnus took his hand and squeezed it. “Let him have his fun,” he grinned.

  
Angus squeezed back, and Taako pretended not to notice - “Merle, Killian, Johann” - as Angus slipped a hand into his too. Magnus started interjecting names - “Lucretia, Steven, Johann again” - and the three of them wandered along, swinging their arms in unison, Taako and Magnus shortening their steps so Angus could keep in time. Magnus watched Taako's glamour fade as he forgot to renew the spell, and he watched Angus but the world's greatest boy detective didn't even notice, so Magnus looked down, hiding a smile as his heart overflowed. The thin white scar on the back of his hand reminded him of thread as it wrapped around Angus’s. In the warm light, it almost glowed.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about inside out too much recently , can u tell ? I think it's philosophically not that far from taz anyway , the way I see it . oh sweet ango , all growing up ~ I kinda want him to get to be a kid so I've spun his job offer into a like postgrad research opportunity , with some small amount of teaching on the side , hope that's not stretching canon too much
> 
> the Taako and Magnus in this are for sure based on the-nothing-maker on tumblr's designs , fyi , but u can obviously picture them however u like
> 
> thanks so much for reading , giving comments and kudos brings me joy beyond measure my dudes , hope the finale was as good to u as it was to me x


End file.
